Earlier this year, The Bivings Group went looking for a better internal management tool. Spreadsheets, email and a tired and clunky intranet weren’t working. Weekly staff meetings were basically recitals of what got done the prior week and what was on the plate for the coming week. We wanted a way to focus instead on bigger things, to talk about what was new, and how we could have more fun.

We found one. It’s called a wiki, and is the same piece of software that drives the free online encyclopedia, Wikipedia. Wiki is short for the Hawaiian “wiki-wiki” meaning “quick.” We downloaded the free software, installed it one of servers, and a small group got it up and running. You do have to learn a bit of wiki-ese, and get used to a few idiosyncrasies, but it’s a pretty powerful and easy-to-use way to add and edit content collectively.

We now use it to set priorities, keep track of every project, and even do some software bug tracking. Now everyone knows what everyone else is doing, and what the firm as a whole is up to.

Staff meeting are still too long, but not half as boring, at least most of the time. We even use it to manage our large client relationships and have promoted the use of wikis with partners.

| Trackback URL |